The Pride of Vos
by madwriter223 -TF
Summary: Why are you looking at me like you wanna dissect me?" Youngling fic, Katsuko AU. Fluff, Angst, and a little genius running around.


**The Pride of Vos**

'The energy need to sustain such prolonged movement should be compatible with the number of repeated actions, implying a high level of secondary energy stores hidden within the individual. It also proves said energy is affecting the individual's behaviour, which affects both him and his surrounding environment in...' "Annoying the slag out of everybody."

"What was that, Starscream?" Thundercracker asked from his spot below the ledge the tri-coloured youngling was perched upon.

"Nothing." He shook his head, not breaking his silent observation of Skywarp jumping around like a mad-mech.

'An energy storage of this level, which proved itself to be very high due to the duration of said activity, could be utilized into fueling a device of as of yet unknown functionality and application.'

"What are you thinking about now?"

"Energy levels."

"Okay." Starscream couldn't help a smile – his trine leader had adopted a 'I don't really need to know everything' attitude when it came to him very quickly. It was quite amusing, actually.

He chuckled.

"Are you laughing at me again?"

"Not directly _at_ you."

"Good to know."

"What are you two talking about?" Warp called, twirling in his spot before jumping to another.

"I'm not sure." His trine leader looked up at him, and he smirked.

"Fine, I'll tell you. I'm thinking about our future abilities."

"As in what we'll be able to do?" the black and purple mechling asked, jumping closer.

"Yup."

"I bet you'll get boosters for your speed, considering your boundless energy." TC grinned at Warp.

'It's a possibility, though not fitting to the character traits he's expressing.'

"And you'll probably get a weather controlling device, so you'll be able to make 'cracky thunder'."

"You making fun of my name?"

"You're making fun of my jumping."

"Cause it's weird."

"So are you."

Starscream ignored the banter, optics never leaving the black and purple frame, lost in a sky of thoughts a youngling his age shouldn't be able to articulate.

"What about you, Screamer?" Warp suddenly turned to him, cocking his head in curiosity.

"What about me?"

"What kind of ability do you think you'll have?"

A slow blink, then a cheeky smirk. "I don't need one. I'm already a genius."

Warp made a face at that, and TC chuckled. "And so humble too."

"That word is not compatible with my behavioral programming."

"And on this confusing note, we end our break time." TC 'mmm-ed as he stood up, igniting his thrusters to get him to Starscream.

"Aw, come on, TC!"

"No. We've got flight practice in a breem." The self-proclaimed genius allowed himself to be gathered into his trine leader's arms, and taken down to the ground, gaze still not lifting from the now whining mechling.

Warp made a slightly worried face, and took a step back. "Why are you looking at me like you wanna dissect me?"

Starscream blinked, an idea forming, then grinned. "Cause you're weird."

"You're both weird. And I'm weird for liking you." TC set him down, then grabbed his and Warp's servos. "Now come on, or we'll be late. Again."

Starscream followed obediently, processor a galaxy away.

*~*~*~*~*

Thundercracker pressed the hail-button, waiting patienly for the mech inside to answer, Warp waiting not so patiently next to him.

A few kliks later the door slid open, and TC smiled slightly at the mech before him. "Starscream ready?"

Mean Mech looked at them both, then stepped outside, closing the doors, and crouching down to face them. "Did you three have a fight last cycle?"

TC blinked in confusion. "No. Why?"

"Because Starscream says he won't be joining you this cycle."

"Screamer won't come?" Warp asked, finding the idea confusing. They were always together. 'Cept that one time their Littlest caught that weird virus in his Creator's lab, and had to be 'quarantinued' or something.

"Is he sick?" Thundercracker asked, twitching one wing in a sign for the other youngling to calm down.

"No, he's fine." Mean Mech sighed, glancing at the door, before facing them again. "He just says he won't go."

TC glanced at Warp, confusion and worry battling within them both. Had they done something to make their Littlest mad? He seemed fine when they dropped him off last cycle...

"Then... can we come play with him later?" The little trine leader glanced at the mech, optics softening in a pleading expression.

Mean Mech sighed, and stood up. "I'll go ask. You two stay here, okay?"

*~*~*~*~*

"I'm working on something." Starscream muttered, one servo flipping through a bookfile and the other making notes on a datapad.  
"I can see that." his Creator answered, letting out a sigh through his vents.

'The decibels and amount of volatile particles expelled imply Creator's asking Primus for patience again.' He was funny sometimes too. Starscream blinked, his servos stopping. Come to think of it, he was finding a lot of mechs funny. 'This needs further analysis.' But not now, he had a project to finish.

He resumed his activity.

"Starscream." The mechling didn't pause this time, so his Creator continued. "All I'm saying is you could spare some time to spend with your trine."

"I do not wish to be interrupted by unneccesary intermech interaction. I'm working."

Then was a long pause from his Creator, then he heard him sigh again. 'Ah, the 'why did you gift me with such an odd sparkling, Primus?' one. My favorite.'

"Fine, I'll tell them not to come." A long look, expressing worry Starscream did not as of yet understand, and his Creator left to talk to his two trinemates.

Starscream paused then, concentrating on the feel of his trine ('Wonder if they'll be mad at me...'), then shook his head, going back to work. This was important.

*~*~*~*~*

"I'm sorry, younglings, but I don't think this cycle is a good time for a visit."

"How about next cycle?"

"I don't know, little one."

"Then we'll be back next cycle."

"Say 'Hi' from us, 'kay?"

"Alright. Have a good fly, you two."

"Bye."

"Bye-bye."

*~*~*~*~*

However, the same situation continued for the next two orns. Each cycle the two younglings would go to Starscream's quarters, and each cycle Mean Mech would go outside and softly tell them Starscream didn't want to go with them nor see them.

Thundercracker was now seriously worried. This was unheard of, for a seeker of any age to ignore his trine, or like in this case, to bluntly tell them to go away. Fine, their Littlest didn't tell them facial plates to facial plates, but the message he was sending was quite clear.

Warp was worried too. He brooded constantly, barely jumping around anymore, not wanting to play any games TC brought up. This was another cause for worry for the young trine leader.

An incomplete trine hurt them all.

Feeling decisive, Thundercracker promised himself he was gonna go and force their Littlest to explain his behaviour. And maybe apologise for whatever it was they had both done.

They had racked their processors for an answer to that one, and so far nothing. But whatever it was, it had to have been unintentional, so maybe their Littlest would forgive them quickly.

If _that_ was the case. It couldn't be that he didn't like them anymore.

Could it?

*~*~*~*~*

That same cycle, after Thundercracker had returned home from practice and was fruitlessly trying to interest Warp in some game, any game, there came a comm call.

"TC, there's a comm for you!" his Creator called, peeking into his room. "It's Starscream."

Then the tall mech jumped back to avoid getting bowled over by two very relieved younglings.

"SCREAMER!"/"Star!"

"Oh, good. You're both there." The black facial plates they hadn't seen in much too long a time split into a happy grin. "Come over to my place, I've got something to show you."

Both younglings blinked in surprise.

"So... you're not mad at us anymore?" Warp asked, sounding hopeful.

"I wasn't mad. I just had something important to work on."

"More important than us?" TC asked, frowning.

A cheeky grin. "You'll see. Come now, I can't wait to show you!"

"Okay, we're going. Now."

"Kay. See you soon." The screen went black then, and the two mechlings moved toards the door.

"Creator, we're going to Starscream's!!" TC called on the way, barely pausing.

"Wait, I'll come with you." His Creator called back, turning off the bookfile he had been reading.

"What for?"

"I want to have a talk with Starscream's Creator."

"Fine." They didn't have time for pointless conversation – their Littlest was waiting. "Hurry up!"

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying. I'll even fly you, how does that sound?"

Perfect. They'll be there that much quicker.

*~*~*~*~*

His Creator pressed the hail-button, and the two younglings made a beeline for Starscream's room as soon as the doors were opened enough.

"They seem eager." Mean Mech muttered, looking after them.

"Can you blame them?" Thundercracker's Creator asked, moving into the quarters. "What's all this about?"

"I honestly have no idea." Mean Mech muttered, then offered his quest some Energon, and comm-ed Skywarp's Creator. He might as well be there too.

*~*~*~*~*

As soon as the two caught sight of their missing trinemate, they threw themselves at him, all three of them landing on the floor in their excitement.

While TC and Warp babbled happily at him, Starscream smiled, pressing close to them both. He hadn't even realised how much he had missed them.

"I'm sorry I worried you guys." he murmured, remembering the feelings of unrest that had fleeted through their bond over their time apart.

"We're sorry for whatever we did." Warp answered, nuzzling his neck.

"I told you, I wasn't mad." He grinned widely at the black and purple mechling. "I made something for you."

"For me?"

"Yup!" Starscream disentangled himself from his trinemates and moved to his desk, lifting a large datapad. He turned it on, brandishing it to the other two. "TA-DAH!"

His trinemates blinked, looking at the schemata he had sketched earlier.

"What is it?" Warp asked after a moment.

Starscream handed the pad over, and moved to get a small device sitting among a pile of scrap metal on his desk. "It's for you."

"You told us already. But what is it?" TC narrowed his optics, cocking the pad to the side slightly. "This looks like a device of some sort."

"Yup." Starscream grinned in self-pride, moving closer to them. "It's a teleporter."

Both younglings' helms snapped up to look at him increduously.

"You designed me a teleporter?"

"Yup. See, I thought about what our future abilities could be, and I thought a teleporter would be most suitable to your characteristic behavioural traits."

"...oh, you mean my jumping."

"Yup. I didn't have enough parts to build it though."

"No offence, Littlest, this is great, but I don't think it'd be a good ide-"

"Oh, please, I wouldn't be stupid enough to suggest we install any kind of device into any of you without conducting appropriate tests first."

"Huh?"

"He wouldn't put anything into us without checking if it worked first... I think."

"Oh."

"Exactly." The self-proclaimed genius lifted the device he picked up earlier. "That's why I made a prototype."

"But you said you didn't have the parts."

"I didn't have enough to build a standart sized one, but I got enough from my Creator to make a mini-one." He grinned. "I call it Warp Jr."

"Does it work?" Warp was intrigued, and it showed. TC was looking at the device itself, cocking his head to the side in curiousity and prefering not to touch it yet.

"I'll show you." Starscream kneeled on the floor, his trinemates doing the same, then set the tiny teleporter on the ground. "Where do you want it to go?"

"Umm..." Warp rocked back in thought, then pointed at the corner farthest from them. "There."

"'Kay." Starscream grabbed the 'pad he had noted down the coordinates for everyplace in his room on, taking a moment to locate the right one. When he found it, he set the pad next to the device so he could see the symbols written on it clearly. He reached for the few buttons and dials on the device, telling his trinemates what he was doing. "Okay. First I submit the coordinates... Then I give it a moment to gather energy... And go." He databurst-ed the _Start_ command, and the little device gave a crackle as it disappeared in a tiny flash of purple light.

All three seekers turned to look at the corner, and the teleporter was there, sitting peacefully as it powered down with a humm.

Two grins spread over his trinemates' facial plates, two pairs of wide open scarlet optics turning to the little (now proven) genius.

"Did I see purple?"

"Like I'd forget about that." Starscream grinned, chirping in surprise when Warp tackled him to the floor again.

TC got up to his peds, running to the door. "CREATOR! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT STARSCREAM MADE!!"

*~*~*~*~*

"So let me get this straight. A seven hundred vorn old youngling designed a teleporter by himself."

"And built it, Airlord."

"By himself?"

A proud nod. "That is correct, Airlord."

"And it works?"

"All three of us saw it work, sir." An exasperated smile. "Repeatedly."

"And why did he do this?"

"He claims he built it as a special ability for my youngling, Airlord."

"...and it _works_?!"

A chorus of three voices. "Yes, sir."

"Huh." A pause. "Well, he'd definitely smarter than his Creator now."

"Thank you, Airlord."

A long pause. "Alright. I'll contact the Prime, and try to arrange a place for him in the Science Academy."

"Already, sir?"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to take your sparkling away so soon. He'll go when he's old enough. But considering I'm going to rub our little Vosian genius into Prime's facial plates, it may take me some time to secure a spot for him. Maybe even a scholarship."

A set of relieved smiles. "Thank you, sir."

"A true pride of Vos." A nod and three smiles widened. "Now tell me, has he shown any adeptness in other fields as well?"

*~*~*~*~*

"I'm here, now I- warp over here- now I'm here again- now I'm over here!" Warp sing-songed, taking great joy in teleporting from one place to another, taking care to stay in optic-range of his two trinemates so they could see his awesomeness.

TC grinned, watching him. "You sure made him happy." he murmured proudly, then frowned in surprise when he all he got was a noncommittal sound.

He turned his head to look at the other, blinking when he saw their Littlest was staring at him, optics unreadible as they gleamed in rapid thought. He smirked as understanding dawned, and cocked his head to the side teasingly. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

A slow, wide grin. "You'll see."

*~*~*

I always believed seekers were upgraded with their special abilities rather than that they were sparked with them. XD

And I think Starscream would be just the mech to design those upgrades.


End file.
